Weston Playhouse Story

By Rebecca Blunk

The Weston Playhouse in Weston, Vermont. (Photo credit: Weston Playhouse)

Supply and demand. A term not often associated with arts programming. Yet, in 1994, the town of Weston, Vermont (year-round population of 625) knew that they had quite a supply of theater. The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company was founded in 1937 and is Vermont’s oldest professional company. With its own white-columned building prominently positioned on the town green, it has survived floods and fires and is now an award-winning regional theater producing four mainstage and two "found spaces" productions for its home audience each summer season.

Meanwhile, performing arts presenters in New England were vocalizing their demand (and need) for excellent quality and affordable professional theater to travel throughout the region. When Weston approached them, explaining their history and hopes for the future, it was Kismet. Supply was about to meet demand. What follows is one example of how the NEA helps connect communities with the theater seeking to reach them.

	Guiesseppe Jones as Gabriel in the Weston Playhouse 2003 touring production of August Wilson's FENCES, directed by Arthur French. (Photo credit: Hubert Schriebl)

Discussions with the Weston Playhouse at regional presenter consortia meetings ensued. Schedules were drawn up. Budgets were crafted. Tech specs were plotted. Grant research and writing began. And soon, the Playhouse had a solid plan to extend its activity into the fall and hit the road, to reach other theater-thirsty small towns in New England.

The plan had financial feasibility, thanks to successful fundraising by the Playhouse and the promise of artist fee support to participating presenters. Enter the NEA Regional Touring Program. The New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), with partnership funding from the NEA, was able to offer grant support to communities outside of Vermont engaging the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company. The Playhouse, recommended by the Vermont Arts Council to be active in touring Vermont (after a rigorous quality check), was, by way of a regional partnership agreement, also a part of the touring artist roster used by NEFA. Thus, up to 50% of the company’s fee, which now ranges between $6,500 to $15,000, depending on the size of the venue and the length of the engagement, is eligible for funding support. The Redfern Arts Center of Brickyard Pond in Keene, New Hampshire, was a recent recipient of a $3,800 grant. William Menezes, director of the center, explains "…this support ensures that the arts remain a vital part of our community…it was a resounding artistic success and [grant support] allowed us to minimize our risks."

A student matinee audience arrives at the Weston Playhouse. (Photo credit: Weston Playhouse)

Nine years and 35 touring engagements later, truckloads of benefits have amassed. The Playhouse has been able to provide extended employment for their artists and staff. The year-round population of Weston and environs gets another production (plays that tour open in Weston before hitting the road). Audiences of young people at school shows throughout the region are reached together with performances during evening hours for community adults. Classroom teachers receive study guides in the spring to prepare for fall performance and workshop activities. The Playhouse’s funding and audience base has broadened. People who have seen the company on tour have traveled to Weston to see more of the company’s work. And the Weston Playhouse, empowered to demonstrate leadership in arts accessibility, now offers to tour sites both audio description services for the visually impaired (the first to be offered on tour in New England) and signed performances for the hearing impaired. Additionally, the Playhouse makes an advance visit to each venue "to see that tech set up, to check the size of that loading dock." Thorough tour planning and preparation ensures that audiences will be unimpeded in experiencing the artistry on stage.

How does the Playhouse select what it will produce for touring New England? "It took us a while to figure this out," explains producing director Steve Stettler, "but it’s important that the play be resonant for both school and adult audiences---a classic or a contemporary classic. Plus, there’s got to be a freshness to it." And there are many other considerations also. Stettler continues, "I’m not sure of our status now, but Vermont has been documented as the whitest state in the country. With August Wilson’s Fences and an African-American cast, we thought it was important that audiences around here see this incredible play." Other plays toured: Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, and Master Class by Terrence McNally, among others.

Charles Turner and Jacques Cowart II in the Weston Playhouse 2003 touring production of FENCES. (Photo credit: Hubert Schriebl)

For 2004, the Weston Playhouse is planning to tour Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. Aimeé Petrin, president of Arts Presenters of Northern New England, and programmer at the Flynn Center in Burlington, Vermont, has presented the Playhouse every year for the last three. "Because of this good, long collaborative relationship, our interest is in the company first. They do such quality, classic theater," says Petrin.

Presenters in very rural communities of New England couldn’t be happier with the NEA-supported program that brought theater to them. C. Partridge Boswell, the presenter in Lebanon, New Hampshire, describes his experience with the recent Fences production: "Fences was a fabulous performance….it was an extreme pleasure working with Weston Playhouse. The staff is exceedingly helpful and the teacher study guides are superb."

Stephen Wicks, outreach coordinator for the University of Maine, comments on his experience in the small town of Orono, Maine. "Because of the sparse population of our region, its lower-than-average economic status, and limited access to cultural resources, the Weston Playhouse production may be the only opportunity for high school students and many teachers to see a professional production of a play or novel they’ve used in the classroom."

The NEA Regional Touring Program, working through NEFA, has supported a range of art forms---from puppet theater and traditional music and contemporary dance---to audiences in an expanse of locations---from Presque Isle, Maine, to Danbury, Connecticut.

With continued funding and such strong interest, the show will go on---the road!

For more information about the New England Foundation for the Arts, visit http://www.nefa.org

National Endowment for the Arts
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